BRANDON Estates recently submitted their planning application to build 137 houses on the site of Coventry Stadium.

They want to demolish our stadium.

The prospect of bulldozers going in and flattening our iconic stadium is unthinkable.

They have shown scant regard for the history and heritage of the venue and see it simply as a means of making millions of pounds to line their pockets.

But they can’t do that without getting planning permission, and they have two major stumbling blocks which are difficult to overcome.

Firstly, the stadium is in the greenbelt and secondly, it has an established use for almost a century, as a sporting stadium.

In an effort to overcome the second of these two major issues, they are trying to prove the stadium is not viable, with desperate and inaccurate claims; claims that are almost a re-writing of history; claims that ‘airbrush’ out certain facts which don’t suit their case.

The cornerstone of their application revolves around viability. If they are able to prove it is not viable, it could persuade the twelve people who sit on the planning committee to grant a change of use, from sport, to housing.

It would also negate any responsibility on their part to comply with Government planning guidelines requiring an alternative venue of equal or better standard to be made available.

Save Coventry Speedway & Stox campaign group will counter these claims in our representations to Rugby Borough Council in response to the planning application.

We all know that the stadium has been very badly vandalised following incursions by gypsies on five separate occasions. This has been made possible by Brandon Estates’ failure to secure the site.

And now, they have instructed chartered surveyors to conduct a survey and provide an assessment of the cost to bring the stadium back into use. Even though they are responsible for enabling this damage to occur, they will use that in their argument to prove it is not viable.

Now, this is where you, the speedway and stock car fraternity, can help.

The cost of bringing the stadium back into use is predominantly the cost of materials and the cost of labour.

We believe we can get local and national companies to supply materials, if not free of charge, then certainly at cost price.

And we believe hundreds of people – people with a passion for their sport and an affection for our iconic stadium – will volunteer to give their time freely.

At this stage, we would like skilled tradesmen and women, who are prepared to commit their spare time to rebuilding Brandon and restoring it to its former magnificent glory should the opportunity arise, to contact us.

If you are an Electrician, a Plumber, a Carpenter, a Roofer, a Glazier, a Civil Engineer; or if you are in the plant and machinery hire business or asbestos removal; or if you’re a Project Manager please get in touch with us.

Email us at: info@savecoventryspeedway.com with your name, address, phone number and tell us what skills you have so we can create a register which we can submit with our representations to Rugby Council.

We need to show the authorities that Coventry Stadium, home of the World-famous Coventry Bees and the ‘Wembley’ of Stock Car Racing for almost a century, is a community asset and the community are prepared put it back together if necessary - so once again, as journalist Oliver Holt so eloquently put it, we can “smell the methanol, hear the roar of the engines and the hum of the crowd."